The Madness of Zambian Political leaders

Corruption and embezzlement are a way of life for Zambian leaders, and it has been developed into endemic.

The Nation is being ruled by a cabal of corrupt leaders and their associates who masquerade as the representative of the people: presidents, MPs, ministers, government officials and the list go on and on… In fact, the type of Zambian government can best be described as Kleptocracy.

In Africa Zambia is ranked among top twenty corrupted country in the region. Many MPs, ministers and their associates in the country stand accused of accepting bribes and allowing companies to do as they pleased, resulting the population continue to live in abject poverty and the country has nothing to show for it.

Now think of this. What do you think will happen if instead of stealing the money and banking it in Switzerland, RSA, France or Belgium by our Zambia presidents and ministers instead of investing stolen money in training teachers, doctors, engineers, invested in infrastructure-roads, telecommunication, harbours, hospitals, schools, research institutions? What do you think will happen if every school has library with the right kind of books that will enable students to get the knowledge and skills they need? What do you think will happen if the money is invested in generating electricity for those living in the villages, towns and cities?

What about if the money is used to build water treatment plants to supply the people with potable water?

What do you think will happen to standard of living if the money is invested in agriculture, build canals, irrigation facilities and storage facilities, buy tractors for farmers so they can produce to feed nations?

Are Zambian leaders happy when every negative thing in the world is associated with their country: poverty, corruption, AIDS/HIV, illiteracy and starvation? Are they happy when children die of diseases that can be eradicated?

What effort are the leaders making to eradicate poverty apart from just stealing monies that could help develop the countries?

Why don’t they use the money generated from the income taxes and revenues, tourism and natural resources to invest in education, fast and efficient transportation systems that could help increase business activities, create jobs and raise the standard of living of Zambians ? Is it because they do not care? Is it because they do not know what development is all about? Is it because their only aim of seeking power is to steal and mismanage what remains of their loot?

The whole nation is rife with poverty. What makes the leaders in Zambia to have a negative attitude towards development and poverty eradication but love to accept bribe and engage in corruption and embezzlement? When they travel to Europe, America, Korea and Canada don’t they see the roads and the airports? When they visit their children in these countries don’t they see the infrastructures that make it easier to do business? What prevents them from doing the same in their home here in Zambia?

What makes Zambia president and ministers so corrupt as to even steal money meant for the development of their own country? What makes their families and relatives in top government positions so stubbornly corrupt?? What makes them enemies of progress and development? Is it lack of patriotism or is plain selfishness? Is it a genetic problem or is lack of vision and foresight? Is our politics that breed nepotism, cronyism and blind patronage to blame? What makes the leaders in Zambia not to think beyond corruption and embezzlement? Why do they always take away poverty eradication from the equation? Why do they substitute development with corruption? Why do they ignore investment in agriculture, sanitation, water, health, education, roads and energy? Why do they refuse to take advantage of solar technology to supply electricity to millions of people who live in urban and rural areas? Do they get satisfaction in seeing millions die of hunger, if no then why do they steal the very money that could end the misery, hopelessness and desperation among the people of Zambia?

Is something wrong with our Zambian leaders and do they suffer from some genetic deficiency that make them power drunk, corrupt but less interested in fighting to end diseases, hunger, starvation and poverty?

What makes Zambia leaders to get it so wrong everyday, every week, every month and every year and every decade? What makes Zambian leaders to have gotten it so wrong in every aspect of human endeavour? What makes it so hard for Zambian leaders to use their huge natural resources to build successful economies like those of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong?

Why do Zambian leaders shun investment in science and technology and yet would want to use mobile phones, laptop computers and the latest sport utility vehicles?

What makes the Zambian leaders to avoid investment in education? Why do Zambian leaders find it difficult to have economic and social policies that will make them self sufficient and less dependent on foreign aid?

So what is wrong with theZambian leaders at all? I mean what makes Zambian leaders intellectually blind, morally bankrupt, and ethically diseased? Why are they so different from all the leaders in the world?

Why do they fail to react against challenges such as HIV/AIDS, food shortages, malnutrition, hunger, homelessness, climate change and the cancer of corruption? Are they all sleeping behind the wheel?

When will they wake up from their slumber to address the major challenges facing the nation? Zambia is blessed with rich soil, rivers and lakes all ingredients needed to produce food yet the country is starving why?

Why do they continue to fail in every aspect of human endeavour? Please don’t blame colonialism because Korea, Malaysia and India were also colonised but they have shaken themselves off the shackles of colonialism.

When will Zambian leaders ever shake themselves from the colonial mentality that makes them subservient? When will Zambia leaders ever shake themselves from the colonial mentality that makes them to think that they cannot do anything without the Western, China or United States? Will Zambia leaders ever grow up, pull themselves together to end the one-sided relationship that allow French, British and American Companies to have control over the resources of their countries, destroy agricultural lands, pollute rivers and put millions of Africans at risk? When will Zambia leaders dismantle the corruption and bribery infrastructures that allow multinational corporations to pay bribes and then rape and loot our national resources? When will Zambian leaders put the corrupt multinational corporations in the dock for the pollution, bribery that continue to fuel corruption and poverty throughout the country? When will Zambian leaders stop conniving with multinational corporations to steal from our country and deposit their loots in the banks of their former colonial masters in the Western Europe ?

Can’t Zambian leaders find ways to raise revenue without incurring heavy debts that continue to be a yoke for all the people?

Will Zambian leaders for once put on their thinking cap, build strong institutions, build infrastructures, develop local talents, local businesses, end poverty, starvation, forge unity and stop depending on foreign aid, and allow democracy and rule of law to work?

By Honourable Brown C. Kapika

President for Adedo – Zamucano Political Party – Zambia

President for ‘Partij voor de Burgerlijke -en Mensenrechten’ Political Party – Netherlands